<html><head></head><body><div class="ydpd16a3b94yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div><p class="ydp2832f350MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif"><span> </span>Cheeky Cellblock Shenanigans <span> </span></span></b></p>
<p class="ydp2832f350MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif">By
Tom Wachunas</span></p>
<p class="ydp2832f350MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="ydp2832f350MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif"><span> </span>For openers,
here’s a few my closing ARTWACH <span> </span>thoughts
about the Players Guild production of <i>Chicago
</i>from<i> </i>back in April, 2018 <i>: “… Maybe it’s a piquant metaphor. Real
life these days seems more than ever driven by insatiable social appetites for
debauchery and scandal, or for the rationalizing of our celebrities’ moral
turpitude, or the self-congratulatory pleasure we take in witnessing their
demise. Is the audience for such things as complicit as the perpetrators?...” </i></span></p>
<p class="ydp2832f350MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif"><span> </span><span> </span>OK, gratuitous moralizing aside, maybe I <i>was</i> overthinking it a little. The fact
of the matter is that the big, funny, sizzling spectacle that is <i>Chicago </i>was made, ironically enough, all
the bigger, funnier, and sizzling to the point of boiling, when it played in
the small, intimate confines of the Guild’s downstairs arena theater. So it's
interesting that the musical is being presented again - this time on the Guild’s
main stage - so seemingly soon after that eminently successful run. In any
case, it's always a real pleasure to see a show directed by Jonathan Tisevich,
as this one is, and with a typically superb cast. I decided to revisit it,
wondering if the bigger space could give a bigger bang.</span></p>
<p class="ydp2832f350MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif"><span> </span>Bigger space
indeed. The stage looks cavernous and empty but for the towering, two-tiered
scaffold platforms spanning the entirety of the back wall (scenic design by
Joshua Erichsen). Helped along by the generally tenebrous lighting (designed by
Reed Simiele) throughout the show, it’s all a somewhat Baroque-ish
representation of cellblock gloom in Cook County Jail - home to a bevy of
vaudeville showgirls awaiting trial for various crimes of passion.
Additionally, the front of the stage has been extended by a wide ramp floated
over the orchestra pit and stretching into the second row of house seats. It’s
like a fashion-show runway, installed, no doubt, to shoot some explosive energy
directly into the audience.</span></p>
<p class="ydp2832f350MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif"><span> </span>Yet these
contrivances don’t quite fully succeed in launching a consistent spirit of
gripping immediacy, despite the excellent playing by the live band conducted by
Steve Parsons. And yes, the choreography by Brandon Leffler is itself, like the
music, delightfully scintillating, but could use a bit more polish and
precision as executed by the dancers. There are many moments on this stage, wide
and deep as it is, when the action feels too diluted, too casual, too… routine.
It tends to ramble when it should strut more with crackling intensity.</span></p>
<p class="ydp2832f350MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif"><span> </span>The true
electricity, the real power and saving grace here, is in the compelling performances
given by Serena Fronimo as Velma; Sarah Marie Young as Roxie; Mason Stewart as
Billy Flynn; Allen Cruz as Amos; Korreca Moore as Matron ‘Mama’ Morton; and J.
Ball as Mary Sunshine. Each member of this remarkable core ensemble is
certainly a skilled-enough singer. More importantly, each fashions something
more than a shameless burlesque, something more than a merely farcical
caricature of a flawed or quirky individual. </span></p>
<p class="ydp2832f350MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif"><span> </span>These
performers give us singularly memorable characters of credible human
dimensionality, however lascivious, troubling or dark that may be. Serena
Fronimo’s Velma is all prideful sarcasm and swagger until Roxie steals the
tabloid spotlight from her. Korreca Moore’s Mama Morton, the cellblock
supervisor, is a gritty, fierce protector even as she glibly observes, “In this
town, murder is a form of entertainment.” Mason Stewart’s Billy Flynn is a
suave, narcissistic crooner and a manipulative, greedy shyster attorney. The
hilarious J. Ball plays Mary Sunshine, a giggly gossip columnist in drag, and
brings down the house with a howling and hoarse pseudo-soprano aria, “A Little
Bit of Good.”</span></p>
<p class="ydp2832f350MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif"><span> </span><span> </span>A more tender, though equally show-stopping
scene features Allen Cruz, playing Roxie’s hapless and timid mechanic husband,
Amos, singing “Mister Cellophane.” In this self-deprecating, bittersweet moment,
Cruz looks hard at his character’s social invisibility. </span></p>
<p class="ydp2832f350MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif"><span> </span>And finally,
Roxie. Aside from being a comedic powerhouse, Sarah Marie Young serves up a
deliciously complex portrait that’s altogether riveting. She’s a lithe and
limber embodiment of sultry sensuality, nutty naiveté, and dauntless determination
to be a vaudeville icon. What a combination – salacious sass, slinky sashays,
lusty laughs… and of course, all that Jazz.</span></p>
<p class="ydp2832f350MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif"><span> </span><i>Chicago / </i>Players Guild Theatre
mainstage THROUGH OCTOBER 6, 2019 / <span> </span>Cultural
Center for the Arts, 1001 Market Ave. N, Canton, Ohio / Shows at 8 p.m. Friday
and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday ( 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5) / TICKETS:
$34 ($31 for seniors 65 and older), $27 for 17 and younger / may be ordered at <span> </span></span><a href="http://www.playersguildtheatre.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif">www.PlayersGuildTheatre.com</span></a><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Verdana,sans-serif"> <span> </span>and 330-453-7619.<i></i></span></p></div><br></div></div></body></html>